diff --git a/.github/workflows/notify-main-failure.yml b/.github/workflows/notify-main-failure.yml
index 739d20d..01f9a97 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/notify-main-failure.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/notify-main-failure.yml
@@ -16,15 +16,24 @@
 #     every merge. This is derived from the GitHub API rather than cross-run
 #     state, so it is self-healing (no cache to go stale).
 #
-# `freeze-scoped: true` adds a third outcome for STAGING callers. A staging
-# failure is only release-blocking once the freeze window is open; mid-week it is
-# an ordinary integration-branch red, and paging the channel for it is what
-# teaches people to ignore the channel. So a freeze-scoped failure posts the red
-# alert while the `staging-freeze` ruleset is active, and outside the freeze
-# posts a muted grey notice instead (`outside-freeze: silent` drops it entirely,
-# at the cost of a broken staging branch being able to sit red unnoticed until
-# the next freeze opens). Prod and freeze/unfreeze callers leave this alone — a
-# failure there is always worth interrupting for.
+# `freeze-scoped: true` scopes a STAGING caller to the release window. The policy
+# this implements:
+#
+#   failure on main                      -> alert
+#   failure on staging, freeze OPEN      -> alert  (staging is the release candidate)
+#   failure on staging, freeze NOT open  -> nothing (ordinary integration-branch red)
+#
+# Mid-week staging is the integration branch, and paging the channel for it is
+# what teaches people to ignore the channel. `outside-freeze: notice` posts a
+# muted grey message instead of nothing, for a caller that wants the trail; the
+# default is silence. Either way the run is still red in the Actions tab, and
+# pipeline-watchdog.yml still covers a staging branch that stops building at all.
+#
+# Prod and freeze/unfreeze callers leave this alone: a failure there is always
+# worth interrupting for. A workflow triggered on BOTH main and staging from one
+# notify job cannot hardcode this — pass an expression instead, or a main failure
+# gets silenced too:
+#   freeze-scoped: ${{ github.ref_name == 'staging' }}
 #
 # It posts its own message rather than the deploy-notification composite, whose
 # copy is deploy-specific ("has failed deploying to ...") and reads wrong for
@@ -79,9 +88,9 @@ on:
         type: boolean
         default: false
       outside-freeze:
-        description: "What a freeze-scoped failure does while staging is NOT frozen: 'notice' (muted, no panic styling) or 'silent' (post nothing)."
+        description: "What a freeze-scoped failure does while staging is NOT frozen: 'silent' (post nothing) or 'notice' (muted, no panic styling)."
         type: string
-        default: notice
+        default: silent
       runs-on:
         description: "Runner label for the notify job"
         type: string
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3e3c926..a09bf6f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -88,7 +88,13 @@ missing recovery message is the symptom to look for.
 
 A staging failure is not the same event all week. Once the freeze window is open, `staging` is the release candidate and a red pipeline blocks the release. Before it, `staging` is the integration branch and the same red is routine, so paging the channel for it is what teaches people to scroll past the channel.
 
-`freeze-scoped: true` on a **staging** caller keeps the red `:rotating_light:` alert while the `staging-freeze` ruleset is `active`, and drops it to a muted grey `:warning:` notice outside the window:
+`freeze-scoped: true` on a **staging** caller implements that policy:
+
+| Where it failed | Freeze window | Result |
+|---|---|---|
+| `main` | n/a | red alert |
+| `staging` | open | red alert |
+| `staging` | not open | nothing posted |
 
 ```yaml
     with:
@@ -97,7 +103,13 @@ A staging failure is not the same event all week. Once the freeze window is open
       freeze-scoped: true
 ```
 
-Add `outside-freeze: silent` to post nothing at all outside the window instead. That trades the noise for a blind spot: a staging pipeline can then sit red unnoticed until the next freeze opens on a branch that no longer builds, so `notice` is the default.
+Add `outside-freeze: notice` to post a muted grey `:warning:` message instead of nothing, for a caller that wants the trail. Silence is the default; the run is still red in the Actions tab either way, and `pipeline-watchdog.yml` still covers a staging branch that stops building at all.
+
+A workflow triggered on **both** main and staging from one notify job must not hardcode `true`, or main failures get silenced too. Pass an expression:
+
+```yaml
+      freeze-scoped: ${{ github.ref_name == 'staging' }}
+```
 
 Freeze state is read from the `staging-freeze` ruleset itself, not inferred from workflow history — a freeze that skipped itself because staging had nothing unreleased still concludes `success`, and history cannot tell that apart from a real freeze. Reading rulesets needs admin, so this reuses the same App that toggles them (`vars.RELEASE_APP_CLIENT_ID` + `secrets.RELEASE_APP_PRIVATE_KEY`); no extra `permissions:` on the caller. If the App token or the ruleset lookup fails, it escalates to the red alert rather than downgrading, so a lookup problem can never silence a real release-blocking failure.